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Shadowboxing

A friend sent me an email commenting on Wesley Clark's statment that McCain lacks "executive" military experience. Her e-mail was entitled "Good Point" with the following caption: "With all due respect, how does getting tortured qualify as experience?"

Such a view depresses me. I feel that it betrays our modern public?s false sense of comprehension of the issues, all the while trading in soundbytes.

McCain?s experience is not limited to being held as a prisoner of war, or even more absurd, "being tortured." McCain was educated at Annapolis, and received additional training at the War College.

He commanded a large naval training squadron, revitalizing it to the point where it received its first ever Meritorious Unit Commendation. After the war, he served as the Navy liaison to the U.S. Senate. He earned the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star and Navy Commendation Medal during his service, and left the Navy as a Captain (equivalent to a Army/Marine/Air Force Colonel). These are extraordinary accomplishments in and of themselves, even aside from the hellish torture that he endured daily, not as a random victim, but because he was serving his country.

It is for this reason that I express a great deal of incredulity at General Clark?s suggestion that McCain does not have an advantage in military and/or foreign affairs over Barack Obama.

First, I don?t know what kind of military experience one must have if McCain?s is inadequate. I suppose, according to Clark, the only Presidents with real experience prior to office would be Washington, Jackson, Grant, and Eisenhower.

Second, I believe this is emblematic of the type of candidate Barack Obama is, and the type of campaign he wishes to run. He has prospered greatly by attacking opponents for their strengths, making much hay of trivium, all the while ignoring his utter weakness on that particular issue.

How else can one justify Barack?s attack on Hillary?s vote on Iraq, when he was not yet in the Senate? How else could one explain the audacity of attacking McCain?s military record when Barack never served? Barack's opponents, meanwhile, have nothing to strike back against - simply air. The coup de grace is Barack trotting out a day to two later, "denouncing" his supporter's comment, long after the comment has been disseminated into the public discourse (as evidenced by numerous press stories).

My only suggestion is that McCain point out some missteps Barack took as an organizer in Chicago, and similarly twist these facts into a narrative into how he is the true activist, the true champion of the inner-city poor. Sound ridiculous? Only about as much as Obama (or his proxy) criticizing McCain?s qualifications to be Commander in Chief.

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on June 30, 2008 (boomark / email).